Yep. It's a demonstratively legitimate falling idol saver in that mode. The shoulders are free to move in any position. How else would they turn around to allow the arms to bend up for the VF-17's stated Gerwalk mode?

It's just that they didn't want to code anything other than the regular gun pod (which they changed to being a laser gun for some reason. A bunch of the games do that) for Gerwalk mode.

thomas Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Okay...so Yamato's VF-17 looks way better than the
> Bandai 1/65 ever did in fighter and gerwalk mode,
> but the battroid mode looks like a blocky garage
> kit? WTF?!?
>
> This almost makes me want to customize one of my
> Bandai's to see whether I can blow that thing out
> of the water just for the sake of it...

All four VF17's next to each other. The Yamato's chest is way too blocky and way off in proportions. The Bandai's legs are misproportioned and the upper arms too long, and the garage kit is off in the legs and arms.

thomas Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> All four VF17's next to each other. The Yamato's
> chest is way too blocky and way off in
> proportions. The Bandai's legs are misproportioned
> and the upper arms too long, and the garage kit is
> off in the legs and arms.

The lesson we have learned from every previous Yamato release is that you cannot use the poofed up anime art for comparison. It just doesn't work.

Actually, if you consider its shapes, the RVF-25's head is designed to iconically represent its AWACS/ELINT role, as a visual counterpart to the antenna rotodome on the valkyrie's back. The smoothly tapered white face resembles the external radar pods that can be mounted on some planes, and the whip antennae on the head create the impression of an electric arc jumping between a pair of "rabbit ears".